Lauren O. (LoMel) - , reviewed on 9/10/2015 + 134 more book reviews

I need you to sit down. Are you sitting? Okay, great. I didn't hate this book. In fact, I actually liked quite a bit of it! I've had a somewhat contentious history with his books, but I think the real trick here is that David Mitchell is actually really good at writing historical fiction when he's not trying to jump through literary hoops just to prove he can do it. The historical pieces in Cloud Atlas and Number9Dream were pretty much the only parts of those books I liked, and here we have an entire book of it! GREAT JOB! That's not to say there isn't a weirdly out-of-place magical element, that Mitchell doesn't write as though he's getting paid by the word, or that there's not an entire paragraph randomly written in rhyme for no reason. It's a David Mitchell novel, did you think we would get out completely unscathed? That said, the general plot of the book is interesting, most of the characters are engaging, and the story moves along at a good pace (although I think part 3 definitely suffers in terms of overall quality). Also, one last compliment: the man really knows how to write an emotional and affecting death scene. That's been a constant. I was shocked and pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book, which makes it EVEN MORE FRUSTRATING when Mitchell gets caught up in wowing us with technical skill instead of just crafting a good story. Clearly he can do it! Try more of this!

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